268 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[September, 



to the keeping qualities of the flowers when cut. 

 One firm tested this, by placing one hundred 

 blooms in an ice chest for ten days, when at the 

 end of that time they appeared as fresh as when 

 taken from the plants. 



Its good qualities, as gathered from the reports 

 and from my own experience, are, 1st. The 

 plant is a strong grower and a free bloomer ; 

 2nd. The flowers are of large size ; I have myself 

 grown them with ordinary treatment, two and 

 three-quarter inches in diameter. 3rd. It re- 

 tains its white color with greater constancy than 

 any other variety with which I am familiar. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



The Hardy Heaths. — It is sui'prising that 

 these beautiful plants are not oftener seen under 

 culture. In Germantown, recently, we saw some 

 specimens several years old in beautiful flower, 

 the owner of which simply threw a few dry 

 leaves over them with brush-wood to keep the 

 heavy winds away. In most winters this would 

 not be necessary, but it is like an insurance pre- 

 mium. The kinds we saw were Erica vagans 

 and Calluna vulgaris — the last particularly suc- 

 cessful. 



Memorial Trees.— Dr. Rivinius, of German- 

 town, grandson of the celebrated botanist after 

 whom the Rivinia or Rouge plant is named, 

 planted on July 31, 1879, a Purple Beech tree, 

 and on the same day in 1880 a large White Pine, 

 commemorative of the birth days of two of his 

 children. Both of the trees grew remarkably well. 

 Apart from the interest attached to the planting 

 of memorial trees, it may be news to many, that 

 trees can be successfully planted at any time 

 during the summer season, if intelligently 

 handled. 



A Huge Azalea. — When on a hurried run in 

 Boston early in the summer we passed over to 

 Prof. Sargent's and saw his huge Azalea decora ; 

 one of the finest specimens perhaps in the world. 

 The writer made a rough estimate of the num- 

 ber of flowers in bloom on it as 7,000. Some 

 companions thought the estimate far too low ; 

 10,000 being suggested as the lowest limit Soon 

 afterwards we had the following note from Mr. 

 Sargent: "You certainly beat all the Yankees in 

 guessing. They have just cut off 7,646 seed ves- 

 sels from the big Azalea." 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Disease in Mareschal Niel Rose. — A., Geneva, 

 N. Y., writes : " We have a good Mareschal Niel 

 Rose in the green-house, four or five years old, 

 which has grown and blossomed freely. On the 

 old wood there has appeared at a foot from the 

 ground, and also in the top (on two-year wood) 

 a " blister." The one at the bottom extends all 

 around the stalk, and is a foot long. The bark 

 is dry, breaks off in cork-like pieces, is rough 

 and ungainly. It has been painted, treated with 

 sulphur paste, &c., but the remedies do not heal 

 it, and the whole bush seems fated. Can we do 

 anything for it?" 



[We know of a case of two years' standing; 

 but it has not seemed to injure the vigor of the 

 plant in the least degree — Ed. G. M.] 



Ants. — Mrs. H. B., Guilford, Conn., writes: 

 " We are losing all our Pelargoniums by the 

 ravages of white ants, that eat into the root 

 stalks and follow up the branches, hollowing the 

 whole plant. They have troubled us in the cel- 

 lar timbers of our dwelling house, and we've 

 tried various poisons without effect. Now they 

 are in our garden, and we want to know if any- 

 thing will destroy them. Can you give us any 

 light on the subject?" 



[In the house, scrub the infested places and 

 strew Elder leaves about. For ants about flowers, 

 a friend informs us that a very little salt — not 

 enough to injure the plants — will drive them 

 away.— Ed. G. M.] 



Earthen Flower-Pots. — M. P. D., Zanesville, 

 Ohio, asks : " I see by the last Gardener's 

 Monthly a subscriber inquires about earthen 

 flower-pots. which, he says, he saw in an article in 

 the Scientific American several years ago. I have 

 never noticed an article in that valuable paper 

 upon that subject, but August Rolker & Sons, 44 

 Dey street, New York, advertise a press for 

 making soluble flower-pots ; also they send a re- 

 ceipt for making. I, too, would like to know if 

 it is a practical machine for florists' use." 



Rooting a Sago Palm.-»-A Belvidere, N. J., 

 correspondent writes : "I asked your advice in 

 regard to a Sago Palm, with two crowns; you ad- 

 vised splitting. I did so, but unfortunately one 

 had neither root nor sign of one, but I plunged 

 it in the sand among my cuttings, and when I 

 left home three weeks ago it had made a growth 

 I of root of two inches, and the crown was be- 



